In recent years the company, which produced a £123m turnover last year, has become hugely popular with a far younger crowd.

Its traditional image as "country garments for toffs" has instead morphed into a luxury range of fitted coats and quilted jackets now so sought after by its new "Hackney farmer" audience.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for Selfridges attributed the successful revamp to a resurgence in buying British as well as the influence of "achingly cool" young models.

She said: "It's a great combination of supporting the best of British as well as the influence of key trend setters in the music industry.

"The emergence of people like Alexa Chung wearing Barbour on the music festival scene has put the company back on the map again.

"They were worn by farmers in the first place because they were waterproof and practical, but now there's this achingly cool gang who are wearing them.

"The Hackney farmer set are bright young boys and girls who want clothing that is useful and practical but that also has integrity. Having a heritage gives Barbour credibility."

Steve Buck, the managing director of Barbour, agreed that celebrities such as Chung set the company thinking in terms of what benefits a successful redesign might bring.

A new generation's embracing of the traditional green jacket as a perfect Glastonbury accessory proved to be the catalyst in opening up a whole new customer base.

The firm embarked on a subtle but consistent change in tack, appealing to younger buyers while maintaining its traditional designs such as the Beaufront and Beadnell jackets.

It has since signed up designer Alice Temperley to produce a "Barbour Gold" range of expensive fitted coats and only last week it also teamed up with Paul Smith.

In 2011, Barbour achieved a turnover of £123m, up from £89.8m the year before. As a result the Barbour family, very much still a family firm with Dame Margaret Barbour, 73, as its chairman, paid itself a dividend of £5m.

But this is not the first time that the company has suddenly become very fashionable only to face a possible backlash.

In 1981 one of their distinctive jackets was worn by Lady Diana, causing sales to go through the roof.

The sudden craze proved fantastic for business but the fad soon died away after the creation of the middle class "Sloane Ranger" lost its appeal. Fortunately, the slack was in part taken up by a boom in Barbour's international business - with two-thirds of sales coming from Italy over a number of years.

Today's success has meant that a number of Barbour's garments are now made overseas, including the colourful quilted jackets.

But its waxed garments are still made in their British factory in South Shields, County Durham. In all, each jacket goes through 41 different pairs of hands and takes an hour to make.

Mr Buck added: "The hugest criticisms of us was we had long rails of dark green, dark brown, dark navy garments. The request from customers was to brighten the range.

"We want to be inclusive, not exclusive. We try to be tasteful in everything we do